Jenni Greenfield Stepping Down From Cutlass, Taking Break From SL

 

Jenni Greenfield has been a familiar sight at Club Cutlass, the main club of the Sunweaver community for many years. But she recently announced she will be taking a break, possibly a permanent one.

 

Had to make a hard decision, but decided to hang it up with SL. The reasons for this is my health is declining, and I have actually become bored with the internet. As you may know, I was recently in the hospital, and they misplaced the meds I took with me. they said they would set me up with new prescriptions, but they seem to be having a problem getting them through. Without them, I have medical issues and a near total lack of energy. Thank you all for putting up with me all these years. 

 

Talking with her, Jenni wasn't sure if this was a hiatus in which she would be back, eventually, but a lasting one, bringing up her lack of energy.

 

Hopefully her health problems will resolve soon and she'll soon be back.

 

Best wishes Jenni,

 

Bixyl Suftan 

Update on Gemma Cleanslate

 

For those of you wondering about Gemma Cleanslate, she is still slowly recovering from medical procedures and is still on break from the Newser. She is able to go out and around in Second Life, though responding may be slow. She should be ready to resume writing before too long. 

 

Looking forward to your next articles Gemma. 

 

Gemma To Resume Writing Soon

 

For those who have been wondering, Gemma took a leave of absence after her hand was injured, taking a break from the break to complete an almost finished article with her other hand. She also spent time at the Second Life Birthday as a greeter, again using her good hand. 

 

Talking to her, she says her hand is better, and she should be good to write something in a few days. 

 

Stay tuned. 

 

 

 

Cartoon of The Day: Breakdance Fail

 

 

 Taken at a music event at Outshop Cancer. One guy was breakdancing. But I couldn't help but wonder that in years to come, in real life a guy wouldn't find it so easy after a while.

 

By Bixyl Shuftan

 

Labor Day Weekend

 

 Today is Labor Day, the unofficial end of summer. And this weekend, people have been having one last bit of summer fun, or at least enjoying the last three day weekend before fall.

The reporters of the Newser have taken some much needed time to relax, both from SL newsing, and RL, but we'll be back soon. 

Second Life Blogger Network Put On Hiatus

 

A few days ago, Linden Lab announced on the official blog that they would be temporarily pausing the Second Life Blogger Network. 

As we continue to evolve and improve our various community initiatives, we have decided to put the Second Life Blogger Network (SLBN) on a temporary hiatus. This pause will allow us to dedicate resources to upcoming changes and enhancements designed to enrich our community's experience even further. 

 

We sincerely appreciate the incredible contributions that each of you, our esteemed bloggers, have made to enrich the Second Life community. Please know that this decision was made with careful consideration and is not a reflection of the value we place on your work. 

 

The Lab also stated they would be expanding the Second Life Weekly Email Newsletter, and invited people to use the Community Resources Portal. 

 

The Second Life Blogger Network was introduced almost five years ago, in September 2019.  

 

Hat tip: Daniel Voyager

Bixyl Shuftan

Breaking News: PBR Mirror Bug Results in Mirrors Breaking, Seven Days of Bad Luck

 Update: April Fool's!

 

Linden Lab just announced there's a glitch in the PBR (Physical Based Rendering) code that affects mirrors in Second Life. Part of the glitch is that bumping into mirrors, touching them with an object, or dropping a mirror onto the ground can result in them breaking. 

 

And when the mirrors break, the person who caused it will go through a number of glitches, such as trouble rezzing, teleporting failures, crashing at sim crossings, difficulties in shopping at Marketplace, and more, for a period of several days. 

 

Supposedly for most involved, the period of time is seven days. Then the issues all clear up. 

To see Linden Lab's statement, Click Here.

Happy Labor Day

 

It's Labor Day weekend, and we're taking advantage of the weekend to rest a bit. But don't worry. We'll soon have some more great stories.

Bixyl Shuftan
 

Daniel Voyager's Blog On Hiatus

 

Noted SL blogger Daniel Voyager hasn't been doing well. It's been several weeks since his blog, Daniel Voyager's Blog, published an article.  Taking a look at his Twitter, it seems he's been dealing with some real life issues that will take some time to resolve. In his last post, he expressed hope at being active again sometime in June.

Best of luck Daniel, and hope you'll be back soon.
 

A Short Break From The Cartoons

 

Usually the Newser has two cartoons a week, a short chuckle for the readers that's sometimes an inside joke only we residents of Second Life can understand, and sometimes most anyone whether in Second Life or not can laugh at. But on occasion, we delay a cartoon, usually if someone passed away or someone close to the Editor is going through tough times. 

We've had a few less a couple weeks ago when one of the Sunweavers was going through tragedy. And now, not only is another going through sad times, but someone close to yours truly in real life has not been well lately. 

So a short break from the cartoons. Hopefully they'll resume next week, hopefully. For those who miss them, Click Here to look at the list, or Click Here from those recovered (so far) from the old SL Newspaper from 2007-2010.

Bixyl Shuftan
 

Club Xanadu Closing Indefinately

Club Xanadu's co-owner RECoyote Mindes informed the Newser that the venue would be closing it's doors to events. There are no plans to reopen, at least for now.

Xanadu, occasionally called "The Vinyl Museum," is jointly owned by RECoyote and Perri Prinz. The building is a classic rock club named for the movie in which the Pan Pacific Auditorium is restored to a nightclub. There have been several periods of hiatus when real-life interfered with the management, but the building has always stood there since it's construction. 

HV Community (67/207/4051) 

Second Life Blogger Daniel Voyager on Hiatus

One noted blogger about Second Life, Daniel Voyager, will be taking a short break. A few days ago, he announced due to real life events, he would be taking a break until sometime "in early 2020."

I have decided to take a break from Second Life due to RL commitments. Everything is good so don’t worry. Breaks are good and everyone should take them once in a while. 

I have enjoyed blogging about Second Life during 2019 especially keeping track of the new continent. The lab and the Moles have done such a great job this year.

I hope everyone has a great Christmas and a happy new year 2020.

Furry Fashion Puts Lounge Events on Hold

For years, the Furry Fashion Lounge has offered DJ music events for the friends of the mall. But yesterday, it was announced in both the inworld group and Discord channel that the events at the Lounge, recently renamed Furscape, were being put on hold, at least for a little while.

We decided to reevaluate  the way that we manage the sim.

In order to restructure we decided that Regularly scheduled events would be on hiatus for a few weeks while we make plans on a future event structure. While we won't have scheduled events running, the lounge is still open as a good place to hang out and enjoy yourself. Keep your ears open for when DJs might decide to play music for your enjoyment! Furry fashion is not closing down!

Thank you for your unbelivable support!

There is not yet a date for when events will resume. For those wanting to know when impromptu events are taking place, joining the group is recommended.

European Union Copyright Directive Threatens Virtual Worlds, Internet, With Mass-Censorship

By Bixyl Shuftan

Lately it seems the Internet has been under assault. With the end of Net Neutrality in the United States, some companies have already started throttling traffic. In August, Verizon was caught throttling the Internet connection of California firefighters while dealing with a huge wildfire. One digital rights spokesman spoke of the incident, “If Verizon was willing to do this to a fire department during the state’s largest wildfire, when public safety should have been paramount, it’s easy to imagine what they are willing to do to everyday consumers.”

But unfortunately, the worst seems yet to come, and not from the United States. The European Union recently approved  legislation that has been described as threatening to "break the Internet," As Cory Doctorow explained in "New World Notes" and an "Electronic Frontier Foundation" article. Two parts of the bill, Article 11 and Article 13, have gotten the most attention. Article 11 is the "link tax," which requires platforms such as Facebook and Google to "to pay news outlets for the privilege of linking or quoting articles." Wikipedia, which would be badly hurt by the legislation, called it a threat to "freedom of expression ... online." Gizmodo commented the legislation would, "make it all but impossible for Wikipedia and other non-profit educational sources to do their work because of their reliance on links, quotes, and citation."

Article 13 would mean bad news for Second Life and other virtual worlds that allow users to create content. They would require any platform or website "that allow users to post text, sounds, code, still or moving images," etc. will have to create "upload filters" to compare all uploaded content to a database of copyrighted works, "that will be compiled by allowing anyone to claim copyright on anything, uploading thousands of works at a time. Anything that appears to match the 'copyright database' is blocked on sight, and you have to beg the platform's human moderators to review your case to get your work reinstated."

That the owners of Second Life and other platforms that fall under this bill are headquartered outside the EU won't necessarily protect them, "The EU has treaties with most of the world that allow for civil judgments to be collected in some circumstances; it's likely that future trade-deals with the EU (like the recently completed EU-Canada trade deal) would require that trading partners allow EU companies to sue and collect judgments under the EU Copyright Directive. That means that even non-EU companies could be forced to comply with these rules." And if they got in trouble with the EU over copyright issues, "those companies would not be able to establish sales/support offices in the EU, their executives would face civil and possibly criminal sanctions if they visited the EU, and they would be at risk of losing their ability to receive payments from EU customers."

Developing such a content filter in the first place wouldn't be cheap. "Google spent $60 million developing the ContentID filter system that is only capable of analyzing audio-tracks of video." Something that would analyze everything from pictures to meshes to avatars would be considerably more expensive. It would certainly be beyond the ability of smaller virtual worlds such as the OpenSim grids to pay.

And how good would it be? Most likely it would err on the side of caution, and much content that resembled copyrighted material instead of matching it would also be blocked. A content creator who found his goods blocked would have to appeal to a human moderator, and if that failed, the only recourse might be a lawsuit. Complicating the issue further are "copyright trolls" As Doctorow explained, ""[T]his is a boon for griefers. Since the rule has no penalties for abuse, griefers could claim copyright over public domain works, works that others had created, etc, and block other players from using them -- you could upload every military insignia, the logo of a rival clan, etc."

The bill doesn't go into effect right away. It will go into closed-door meetings between EU and national government representatives, then next spring the language gets voted on, then the 28 member states' governments debate on their own versions of the bill, and there are court challenges. But companies like Second Life's Linden Lab face a stark choice, either pay huge sums of money for filters that will anger their users, or block IP addresses from European countries with such bills. As Second Life has thousands of European residents, this would be a very sad, and costly, move for the Lab.

Sources: The Guardian,SaveYourInternet, New World Notes, Gizmodo, Wikimedia, Electronic Freedom Foundation   

Bixyl Shuftan

News and Commentary: Sansar Newsblog on Hiatus After Dispute With Linden Lab

By Bixyl Shuftan

If Linden Lab has a theme song these days, it might be "Oops, I did it again."

In December, Linden Lab found itself in a public relations flap when Strawberry Singh was asked by them to remove or edit a video with Second Life's eye-in-hand logo. When the Lab later apologized and annouced their trademark policies would be revised to allow others to promote the virtual world, all seemed well. But recently there was a dispute involving a blog of Linden Lab's other virtual world: Sansar.

On January 8, Ryan Schultz posted in the Sansar Newsblog about the "Aech's Garage" location, a build of a place in the upcoming Steven Spielberg Movie "Ready Player One." Shortly afterwards, he was contacted by Linden Lab, and he was asked to take the pictures in the article down and apparently there was a problem with the blog's use of the word "exclusive." "Apparently, someone at one of the many companies mentioned in that blogpost is upset," he would later post in the comments of Inara Pey's article on the location, telling her, "you’d better be prepared for a request from Linden Lab to take down the pictures you posted to this blogpost." Besides Sansar Studios, the companies involved were Intel, HTC Vive, and Warner Brothers.

After some talks with more in Linden Lab, Schultz was able to repost the images without fear of trouble. But he was asked to take down the word "exclusive." And there seems to be some problem with the name "Sansar Newsblog." "I have asked Linden Lab for clear, yes-or-no answers," Schultz stated about the issue of the pictures and the name of his blog, and had only gotten one for the former. As a result, he is putting his blog on hold.

I don’t want to lose that tight focus on Sansar, on which I have worked so long and hard on with the Sansar Newsblog these past five months. ... I may not be a Warner-Brothers-size company, but my blog is important to me and, if I can believe the comments I have received in support, important to many others as well. Until I get clear, authoritative yes-or-no answers to BOTH of my two questions (Can I repost the pictures I took from Aech’s Garage? Can I keep the name Sansar Newsblog?), I’m not going to bother spending my time and money blogging for Sansar. Linden Lab can go find some other blogger to cover and promote their platform.

Right now, I have only a verbal okay from Ebbe Altberg at an in-world meetup months ago that the name Sansar Newsblog is acceptable to Linden Lab, but after this recent incident, now I want more. I want a clear “Yes” or “No” from someone official at Linden Lab that the company is not going to ask me to rename my blog.

Until I get clear “Yes” or “No” answers to BOTH these two questions, from someone at Linden Lab who is authorized to speak on behalf of the company, the Sansar Newsblog will remain on hiatus.

Schultz stated if he was told to change the name of his blog, he would stop his focus of Sansar and give more coverage to High Fidelity, VRChat, "and the other new VR-capable virtual worlds ... and the other new blockchain-based virtual worlds that are suddenly springing up."

He would later update his post. saying he had gotten an apology from Ebbe Altberg, Linden Lab's CEO. "I do still have a lot of love and respect for Linden Lab. ...  However, I will wait for Linden Lab to issue new brand guidelines for Sansar before I start blogging again. I am really tired, and I need to take a break. ... perhaps two or three weeks at most. The blog will be back, either as the Sansar Newsblog, or under a new name with a new focus."

The incident has been starting to get attention from other blogs and newsletters. Nalates Urriah was reminded of the trouble with Strawberry Singh last month, " ... it looks like the Sansar team is going to have to go through the same learning curve. But, I had hopped the SL experience of the Linden support people, like accounting, legal, marketing…, would carry over. I suppose not, now that I see this second ‘take down’ call." Isabelle Cheren would write about it as well, "Be thoughtful to people who visit. Sansar needs the promotion and here you go and upset a person who promotes it daily, often a number of times a day?" Inara Pey, when asking the Sansar community team for answers, was told, "users are not discouraged from posting screenshots from any experience that is open to the public as long as there is no claim to exclusivity, early access, or other potentially misleading statements or claims that are untrue or could be construed as an official statement from Linden Lab or Sansar."

After Sansar was officially opened, it had gotten a lukewarm reception from most. I had gotten a number of comments asking for the Newser to focus on other subjects, notably when the Second Life Friends Facebook group told me any links to Sansar-related posts would be removed. With the Sansar Newsblog on hold, the next-generation virtual world is without a blog that promotes it with singular focus. It would seem once again, Linden Lab's heavy hand has backfired.

Sources: Sansar Newsblog, Modem World, Natle's Things, Isabelle Cheren  

Image Credit: Isabelle Cheren, Ryan Schultz

Bixyl Shuftan

Club Xanadu Goes on Hiatus

There was a little sad news for fans of Club Xanadu over the weekend. On Sunday July 16, Perri Prinz announced that she was taking an indefinite break from running shows there.

Due to health problems and other real life issues, I can no longer run events at Xanadu.  Any hosts and DJ's with cards in the boards can run events in the club as they please, but I don't expect I'll be around to help.  If somebody wants to take over, please do.  But otherwise I just have to let it slide.

The classic rock club first opened in the Sunweaver Estates in May 2009, co-owned by Perri and her partner RECoyote Mindes, its design based on the club in the movie of the same name, which in real life was the Pan Pacific Auditorium. Over the years, Perri has had a reputation of being a skilled DJ with a good knowledge of music, which was demonstrated at the "Fallout Party" in April. In March, the club reopened after a hiatus of over a year and a half. Besides music, Perri has also been known as a fiction writer, notably her serial sci-fi/fantasy story "Spectral Shadows." But lately she has done some nonfiction commentary concerning her opinion of the state of furry fandom and the threat of the radical-left Antifa group.

It is hoped that Perri's real-life troubles will ease so she will be able to return to DJing.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/HV%20Community/67/207/4051

Bixyl Shuftan

Gemma Cleanslate On (Hopefully Brief) Hiatus

Since the founding of Second Life Newser, Gemma Cleanslate has been part of the paper, writing about various people, places, and events. Unfortunately, she's going to have to put her pen down, at least for a few days. She is scheduled to go to her local hospital today for treatment. It is not yet clear how long her recovery will take, or how long until she will be able to use the Internet, and Second Life again.

Get well soon Gemma.

Becky's Futurecast

What lies ahead? A question we all ask ourselves. In real life news, scientists began going along with a theory Becky had done so a long time ago. She had a few other predictions of what lies ahead, though trying to guess what the Lindens will do is beyond her talents. This will be Becky's last story for a while as she is going on a break that will last until at least the end of the year.

Read Becky's story in Extra.

Bundy Xue Goes on Hiatus From Music Club Scene

Longtime readers of the Newser may remember Bundy Xue, an Australian club owner whom helped out with the "Jam For Genes" fundraiser that went on every August for a few years up to 2014. She also participated in an Australian Day flood relief benefit in 2011. When we last heard from her, she had closed her B&Bs Aussie club, with plans to build a smaller one.

Any1 Gynoid notified the Newser that Bundy has closed her new club and is taking an indefinite break from running clubs in Second Life, sending us a notecard from her.

EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY ALL SHOWS @ BUNDY's ARE CANCELLED. 

 Due to personal reasons and family commitments I am closing Bundy's down. 

 As most of you know i have owned or hosted a live music venue for the last 6.5 years and at the moment I am no longer enjoying the music. So after some thought and hesitation I have decided to take a break from it. Whether it is 3 months, 6 months or longer I dont know.  But at the moment the most important thing in life is my children and I have been busy with them and their schooling and running them around with their job commitments. And over the next few months that is expected to get a lot more busier. I am truly sorry if this is an inconvenience to anyone. But I need to do this for my own sanity.

I want to thank you all for your support and loyalty over the last 6.5 years. I couldn't of done it without all of you.  I love you all dearly as you are family to me. 

The Bundy's club group listed a number of musicians, including Rosedrop Rust, OhMy Kidd, and Beth Odets. Cellandra Zon, whom once helped run "The Pocket," and Whelan Ferris, whom ran the Australia sim until it closed, were also in the club group.

Bixyl Shuftan

Classic Rock Club "The Vinyl" Goes on Hiatus

The Sunweaver Estates is known for it's clubs. But one of them has gone inactive, at least for now. This week, it was announced that the Vinyl Museum would be indefinitely closed to regular events.

Until further notice from Perri, Vinyl is semi-closed. The club is still open for use there just won't be any events until Perri comes online and is able to stay online to handle issues. We can't run with no Managers and DJs. We apologize for this inconvenience and hope this won't make you give up on us.

Opening in May 2009 as Club Xanadu, a classic club with the design based on the Pan Pacific Auditorium which in the movie "Xanadu" was turned into a club. with Perri Prinz and RECoyote Mindes as co-owners and Perri the regular DJ. Perri had a reputation for being a good DJ, with one of the best selections of 60s and 70s classic rock. Even though the club was later renamed "Green Meadows," and then "The Vinyl Museum," people have continued to call it "Perri's Xanadu," and more recently just "The Vinyl."

The club has temporarily closed a few times in the past, last reopening in December 2013. Taking the Tuesday and Thursday time slots that were done by Club Zero Gravity before it closed, the club has continued to do well until recently, being among those taking part in Second Life Newser's anniversary parties. But Perri has had to take an indefinite break from Second Life to help out family in real life. That led to the decision to put regular events on hold until the Sunweaver's popular bunnygirl DJ can return.

Bixyl Shuftan